Research on cannabis cultivation has identified several factors associated with a grower's likelihood of detection by law enforcement. However, these studies are difficult to compare, as they drew from different data sources and methods, and have focused on only one geographical location. This article revisits the issue of detection using a large sample of cannabis cultivators recruited in three countries: Belgium (n = 659), Denmark (n = 560) and Finland (n = 1296). Respondents were recruited in the context of a self-reported online survey conducted successively in each country between 2006 and 2008. Multivariate analyses suggest several country-specific similarities and differences. Importantly, the Finnish growers reported being arrested significantly more often than Belgians or Danes. The probability that Finnish growers would be arrested increased with time spent on growing, the size of the cultivation site and when respondents did not work alone. In Denmark, the risks increased with the size of the cultivation-related network, but decreased when respondents started growing later in life. In Belgium, no cultivation-related characteristics were associated with detection. The results indicate that the risks of apprehension for cannabis cultivation are typically country-specific. These findings are discussed in the context of country-specific policies in regards to cannabis.

Background: This article aims to provide an overview of: demographic characteristics; experiences with growing cannabis; methods and scale of growing operations; reasons for growing; personal use of cannabis and other drugs; participation in cannabis and other drug markets; contacts with the criminal justice system for respondents to an online survey about cannabis cultivation drawn from eleven countries (N = 6530). Important similarities and differences between the national samples recruited will be discussed.
Methods: This paper utilizes data from the online web survey of predominantly 'small-scale' cannabis cultivators in eleven countries conducted by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC). Here we focus primarily on descriptive statistics to highlight key similarities and differences across the different national samples.
Results: Overall there was a great deal of similarity across countries in terms of: demographic characteristics; experiences with growing cannabis; methods and scale of growing operations; reasons for growing; use of cannabis and other drugs; participation in cannabis and other drug markets, and; contacts with the criminal justice system. In particular, we can recognise that a clear majority of those small-scale cannabis cultivators who responded to our survey are primarily motivated for reasons other than making money from cannabis supply and have minimal involvement in drug dealing or other criminal activities.
Conclusions: These growers generally come from 'normal' rather than 'deviant' backgrounds. Some differences do exist between the samples drawn from different countries suggesting that local factors (political, geographical, cultural, etc.) may have some influence on how small-scale cultivators operate, although differences in recruitment strategies in different countries may also account for some differences observed.

Highlights:
Online survey of small-scale cannabis cultivators in eleven countries (N = 6530).
Broad similarities but some notable differences across different country samples.
Most respondents neither socially nor criminally deviant.
Intent to profit by selling cannabis not a motivational factor for most respondents.
Involvement in 'social supply' of cannabis very common.

Background: The production and consumption of cannabis for the treatment of medical conditions is of increasing importance internationally; however, research on different aspects of the phenomenon is still scarce. In this article, we report findings from a cross-cultural study of small-scale cannabis cultivation for medical purposes. This kind of comparative study has not been done previously.
Methods: The data were gathered with a help of web surveys conducted by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC) in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the UK (N = 5313). In the analysis we compare reports of medical motives, for what conditions cannabis is used, whether users have diagnoses for these conditions and whether the use of cannabis been recommended as a treatment of those conditions by a medical doctor. Descriptive statistics are used to show the main commonalities and noteworthy disparities across different countries.
Results: Findings from countries were quite similar, even though several national differences in details were found. Growing cannabis for medical purposes was widespread. The majority of medical growers reported cultivating cannabis for serious conditions. Most of them did have a formal diagnosis. One fifth had got a recommendation from their doctor, but in most cases cannabis use was self-medication which was not discussed with their doctors.
Conclusion: There is a wider demand for licit access for medical cannabis than currently available in these countries. Ideologically, medical growers can be seen distancing themselves from both the legal and illicit drug markets. From a harm reduction perspective, it is worrying that, in the context of present health and control policies in these countries, many medical growers are using cannabis to treat serious medical conditions without proper medical advice and doctor's guidance.

Highlights:
Growing cannabis for medical purposes was a widespread motivation among the small-scale cannabis growers in six countries.
The majority of medical growers reported using cannabis for serious illnesses, injuries or conditions.
According this self-reporting data most of medical growers did have a formal diagnosis of their medical condition.
In most cases this self-medication was not taken up in the meetings with their doctors.

Domaine :

Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs

Affiliation :

Department of Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland